Programming help wanted.

[Daniel3D]

Hi guys.

As many of you have noticed, I'm full of ideas
But I lack the skills to do it all myself.

So far I have been leaning on CAS for the majority of the programming and code changes but he is quite busy and I want to give him some breathing room.

For the new release of stunts he has written a new setup program. Setup of video and sound works exactly like the original.

But an installation function is not available yet.
Also there are some things I would like to add.
Most importantly a car manager/swapper.

Who can help with adding the additional functionality?
It's currently written in quickbasic.
Source code is available.

Thanks in advance.
Daniël

[Cas]

I really would like to have more time to concentrate in giving you a hand with that, Daniël. Sometimes I do have some free time, but if I've been working recently, I feel so tired of being at the computer that I only feel like doing things that don't require much concentration. I hope with time I find the way to not feel so tired after work, maybe when I get the hang of it to the point of becoming a pretty automatic thing. But yes, I'll try to do some programming from time to time. I don't want to just stop doing it.

[Daniel3D]

It's frustrating not to be able to do it myself. And knowing you are very busy. Don't want to pressure you, but want to move forward to

[llm]

Who can help with adding the additional functionality?
It's currently written in quickbasic.
Source code is available.

at first it should be very clear/excat what should be the result - there are many different ideas in the other thread (http://forum.stunts.hu/index.php?topic=3823.msg81568#new) about how car swapping should work

so a clear list of needed features and how they should work exact would be a good start - a tool that every (relevant) community member is ok with would be great

and i though Cas is using FreeBasic (qbasic is something totaly different), or am i wrong?

[Daniel3D]

so a clear list of needed features and how they should work exact would be a good start - a tool that every (relevant) community member is ok with would be great

I think can provide that. Except that it may not be possible to please every (relevant) community member. But a majority is my goal.
I also aiming at creating a better (in a sense) version that new players are comfortable with.

and i though Cas is using FreeBasic (qbasic is something totaly different), or am i wrong?

As CAS put it.

Setup is to simple tp be made in FreeBasic. It's like using a Jumbo jet to take ten kids to school

Qbasic is very suitable for that.

But any aditional feature can be made as stand alone progam and be called by setup. So Qbasic is optional.

[Daniel3D]

It still needs an Installer function.
The game directory has variable contents and subdirectories. (custom content and mods)
Installation can be form or to a removable medium. (basically from any location to any location)
So,
It needs to check if the source directory contains game files and if the destination exists.
Create a directory if needed.
Copy the whole, including subdirectories, to the new location.
[this part just mimics the functions of the original installer]

Optional features
(re)Install the base game without additional content and modifications.
* (needs a file list of the base game with mandatory and optional files so it doesn't choke on a missing track or highscore file)
Install the game in the new location with selected modifications.
* (needs to be able to identify cars, tracks and tools and provide checkboxes to include them)
(de)Install modifications to current installation
* (needs to be able to identify cars and tracks and provide checkboxes to move them to and form the main game from any location)

[Daniel3D]

A car manager.
To install new cars, it could call upon the installation feature above if available, or it needs a similar function build in.
Needs to be able to move cars from showroom to storage and back.
* (except for the default car, that can not be removed from the showroom because that breaks the game)
An option to save showroom configuration to restore back to (example competition 2022 car set).

A graphic of render of the CAR selected with car information. I really need that, and I think that would look better.
A 3D render can not be done in Qbasic, so Freebasic or whatever you like would be necessary. A picture can be done easier, I don't mind providing 100 pictures.
Metadata to classify cars is probably handy. Again, I don't mind filling in the blanks for 100 cars.

[llm]

and i though Cas is using FreeBasic (qbasic is something totaly different), or am i wrong?

As CAS put it.

Setup is to simple tp be made in FreeBasic. It's like using a Jumbo jet to take ten kids to school

Qbasic is very suitable for that.

But any aditional feature can be made as stand alone progam and be called by setup. So Qbasic is optional.

that makes no sense

why should one use a several decades old QBasic interpreter(or are with talking about the decades old "QuickBasic" compiler?)
when FreeBasic is able to produce small, standalone pure dos executables? and what means "Qbasic is optional"?
or are the FreeBasic dos executeables too big?

[Daniel3D]

that makes no sense

why should one use a several decades old QBasic interpreter(or are with talking about the decades old "QuickBasic" compiler?)
when FreeBasic is able to produce small, standalone pure dos executables? and what means "Qbasic is optional"?
or are the FreeBasic dos executeables way bigger?

Again, quoting CAS on this.

If you just make a "Hello world" program, it'll take some 30K in QuickBasic and 300K in FreeBasic

I don't know how easy it is to create the same look and feel in freebasic.
But the Qbasic setup looks exactly like the original.

and we are talking about the decades old "QuickBasic" compiler i believe. Because CAS mentioned running it in DOSBox 

[llm]

I don't know how easy it is to create the same look and feel in freebasic.
But the Qbasic setup looks exactly like the original.

and we are talking about the decades old "QuickBasic" compiler i believe. Because CAS mentioned running it in DOSBox 

look and feel should be also easy in freebasic (textmode programming is super easy)
i think freepascal or C would be better for getting more people in then using decades old basic compilers - but better then nothing AND good work Cas!

and size is a strange decision base if you prepare a package that is larger then ever
Cas seem to always strive for the extreme - even if it has no relevance

btw: qbasic means the interpreter - if you want to find people then don't ask for qbasic programmers - most of them would rather use C or pascal

[llm]

btw: could Cas 3D Engine be used for showing images of the cars in the new car swapper/garage thing?

[Daniel3D]

btw: could Cas 3D Engine be used for showing images of the cars in the new car swapper/garage thing?

Yes, but that might be overkill.
The 3D view in carworks would work to. No wheels but that is irrelevant.

CAS has his own take on matters. Quite complex and part of his personality. It restricts him but makes his work also special in a way.
Frustrating to work with sometimes. But the adaptations to the game for the Ferrari edition we did together in 5 hours..

Any code that can be run in DOS may be used.
As long as a 386 can run it, I'm happy.

[llm]

But the adaptations to the game for the Ferrari edition we did together in 5 hours..

you two should do a Podcast

[Daniel3D]

But the adaptations to the game for the Ferrari edition we did together in 5 hours..

you two should do a Podcast

Well, it was a lot of fun.
I was browsing the assembly code and throwing bits I found his way. He looked it up in the gamefile and directly edited the binary.
Meanwhile I created the graphics and in a few tests we had it working.

[llm]

I was browsing the assembly code and throwing bits I found his way. He looked it up in the gamefile and directly edited the binary.

are there any code -  or only resource (graphics etc.) changes?